SEASON OPENERS
Colorado Mesa is on a three-game season opener winning streak dating back to the 2013 season. Last season, the Mavericks defeated Nebraska-Kearney in the season opener at Suplizio Field. Their last loss came in 2013, a 6-2 defeat to No. 23 UC-San Diego. Head coach
Chris Hanks is 7-11 in series openers as the skipper of the Mavericks.
SCOUTING THE TRAILBLAZERS
Dixie State is ranked in the top 16 in the four major polls and is coming off a season opening, series sweep of Cal State - San Bernadino. Tyler Mildenberg led the Blazers with a .556 batting average and two home runs while Mason Hilty led the staff, earning a win in his start while striking out six. 2B Drew McLaughlin was named an NCBWA Preseason All-American after batting .408 last season.
PITCHING
The Mavericks will open up the season with three familiar faces in the rotation. They will open with Preseason All-American and RMAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year
JR McDermott in game one followed by senior
Tyler Day in game two. The lone newcomer is slotted in game three with lefty
Chris Ramirez, a transfer from Colorado Northwestern, and will finish up with sophomore
AJ Landis.
THE FIELD
Colorado Mesa returns a majority of its positional lineup from a year ago, especially in the infield. Shortstop
Zach McLeod returns for his junior season with a combonation of
Andrew Contreras,
Lane LaCrone,
JJ Carr and
Greg Reynolds to be configured around the diamond with senior
Kyle Serrano playing catcher. In the outfield,
PJ Gonzalez returns with a bevy of newcomers likely to factor in the other two slots.
ON THE ROAD
The Mavericks are 33-9 in the past two seasons on the road. That mark also includes an 8-1 record in non-conference matchups.
ALUMNI UPDATE
2015 Colorado Mesa Maverick Sergio Romo recently signed a one-year, three million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Romo spent the first nine seasons of his big league career with the San Francisco Giants and was recently named to the World Baseball Classic roster for Team Mexico, his second WBC appearance.
PRESEASON ALL-RMAC
Colorado Mesa had four players named to the Preseason All-RMAC team. Sophomore
JR McDermott was named the RMAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year while his catcher
Kyle Serrano was also named to the team. Infielders
Zach McLeod and
Andrew Contreras were also named to the team.
OTHER PRESEASON TEAMS
JR McDermott was also named to the NCBWA Preseason All-American First Team after his tremendous freshman campaign.
Kyle Serrano and
Zach McLeod were each named to the NCBWA Preseason All-South Central Region Team as well.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Mavericks are currently ranked in the top 16 in the four major national polls. They are as high as No. 8 in the Prefect Game poll and as low as No. 16 in the D2Baseballnews.com poll.
ON DECK
The Mavericks will return home for host nationally ranked Cal Baptist in their home opener on Thursday at Suplizio Field. Colorado Mesa took three out of four games last season in Riverside where both teams were nationally ranked.
